We Need to Check on Our Vet Students. Right Now.

Nobody in veterinary medicine talks about this enough.

While the rest of the world is debating the economy in think pieces and news segments, there are veterinary students timing their study breaks around when the hospital break room gets restocked. There are vet students driving past gas stations because they cannot afford to fill the tank. There are people who have committed years of their lives and more debt than most people will ever see to this profession, and they are quietly going hungry while they study for boards.

It is happening right now. In your school. On your campus. Among people you know.

And almost none of them will tell you.

The Part Nobody Says Out Loud

Veterinary culture has a problem with vulnerability. We train our students to be competent, composed, and capable under pressure. We reward toughness and self-sufficiency. We create environments where admitting struggle feels like admitting you do not belong. And then we put those same students into a fourth year of clinical rotations with six-figure debt, near-zero income, gas close to four dollars a gallon, and grocery bills that have quietly become impossible.

The average veterinary graduate leaves school carrying somewhere between $150,000 and $200,000 in student loan debt. Interest is accruing on that balance from the day the money is disbursed at nearly eight percent. New federal legislation starting in 2026 will cap borrowing limits and eliminate Graduate PLUS loans entirely, which means the students coming behind them will have even fewer federal options and more pressure to turn to private loans with fewer protections.

And in the middle of all of that, they are trying to figure out how to buy milk.

Nearly twenty percent of college students in the United States experience food insecurity. Veterinary students are not exempt from that number. They are inside it. They are just less likely to say anything about it because the culture they are training in has never made it safe to do so.

Veterinary technicians and support staff are facing their own version of this crisis. Low wages that were never adequate are now genuinely insufficient in an economy where everything costs more than it did two years ago. Many are working multiple jobs. Many are choosing between healthcare and rent. Many are the people holding your favorite practices together while running on empty and telling nobody.

What It Actually Looks Like

Food insecurity in the veterinary community does not look like what most people picture when they hear the phrase.

It looks like the student who always says yes to the pharmaceutical rep lunch, not because they particularly want to network but because it is the most reliable full meal in their week. It looks like the vet tech who skips breakfast before a long shift and tells themselves they are not hungry. It looks like the fourth-year who has done the math on their student loan disbursement and knows exactly how many days until the next one and is rationing accordingly.

It looks like competence on the outside and quiet crisis on the inside. And it goes unaddressed for months, sometimes years, because the person living it has convinced themselves it is just part of the deal. That everyone is struggling this way. That asking for help would be embarrassing. That they should be able to handle it.

They should not have to handle it alone. And they do not have to.

If You Are Struggling, Here Is Where to Start

Your veterinary school financial aid office is the first call to make. Most schools have emergency funds that can help bridge a crisis without adding to your loan balance. Ask specifically about emergency grants, not loans. They exist and they are underutilized because students do not know to ask for them.

SNAP, the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, is available to some graduate and professional students. You may qualify if you work at least twenty hours a week, participate in a work-study program, or meet other exemptions. Financial aid including student loans does not count as income for SNAP eligibility, which means many students who assume they do not qualify may actually be eligible. Check your state's SNAP portal or call 211.

211 is a free national helpline for anyone who needs help finding food, financial assistance, utility support, or other local resources. Call it, text your zip code to 898-211, or visit 211.org. It is not only for people in extreme crisis. It is for anyone who needs a bridge.

The VIN Foundation offers free financial tools built specifically for veterinary students and professionals, including a student loan repayment simulator and debt management resources. Visit vinfoundation.org.

The AVMA Foundation offers scholarships and emergency financial assistance for veterinary students. Visit avmf.org and look specifically at the emergency assistance programs, not just the scholarship listings.

Feeding America can connect you with your nearest food bank. Visit feedingamerica.org.

Campus food pantries exist at most veterinary schools. If yours has one, use it. That is what it is there for and there is no shame in walking through the door.

The Veterinary Medicine Loan Repayment Program offers up to $25,000 in loan reimbursement for veterinarians willing to work in a designated shortage area for three years. If you are open to rural or underserved practice, this program is worth a serious look. Visit nifa.usda.gov.

Not One More Vet at novvet.com provides mental health support and peer connection specifically for veterinary professionals. Financial stress and mental health are not separate conversations. They are the same conversation.

What the Rest of Us Need to Do

If you are a practice owner or manager, the people on your team may be struggling in ways they will never tell you. The culture that made it hard for them to ask for help did not get left behind at vet school. It came with them. Ask directly. Create space for honesty. Consider whether your compensation reflects what it actually costs to live in your area right now. Consider whether your team knows what resources are available to them.

If you are faculty or staff at a veterinary school, financial literacy and crisis resource information belong in the curriculum. Not as an elective. Not as a handout at orientation that nobody reads. As a real, recurring conversation with real information that students can act on before they are already in crisis.

If you are a veterinary professional who made it through the hardest financial years of training, reach back. Tell the truth about how hard it was. Share what helped. The students coming behind you do not need to be told to toughen up. They need to know that people who look competent and put-together now were also struggling then, and that struggling does not mean you do not belong.

The Bottom Line

The veterinary profession is built on the people willing to sacrifice enormously to do work that matters. Those people deserve to be able to eat. They deserve to not have to choose between a tank of gas and a bag of groceries. They deserve a profession that looks them in the eye and says: we see what this costs you, and we are not going to pretend it does not.

Check on your vet students. Check on your vet techs. Check on the people around you who look fine because they are very good at looking fine.

They may need someone to ask.

Resources:

211 — call, text your zip code to 898-211, or visit 211.org

SNAP — check eligibility and apply at your state's benefits portal

VIN Foundation — vinfoundation.org for free veterinary financial resources

AVMA Foundation — avmf.org for scholarships and emergency assistance

Feeding America — feedingamerica.org to find your nearest food bank

Campus food pantry — ask your financial aid office where it is

Veterinary Medicine Loan Repayment Program — nifa.usda.gov

Not One More Vet — novvet.com for mental health and peer support